walk in the park
by stanzas
Summary: Contrary to popular belief, their relationship is not. In which a young daughter of Demeter is found and stuck in a bad place while the superheroes battle the monsters and she's stuck with the pregnant wife having a baby. Leo/Piper told through the eyes of an anonymous demigod. Complete. [3/3]
1. the chronicles of diamond

**title: **walk in the park

**summary**: Contrary to popular belief, their relationship is not. In which Leo and Piper find a young demigod and get stranded off Manhattan- while trying to cope with their current ordeals.

**rating**: T (fosho i swear too much in this ha)

**disclaimer**: rick riordan, obvs

**a/n**- through the fantastical adventures of tumblr and my ask blog i discovered a young demigod named diamond who has stumbled across a 20+ year old versions of leo and piper and their attempts to get along. this was a challenge to write in a perspective i have never been in or even talked to in person, much less know much about. plus i wanted to see if i can visualize a relationship through another person's eyes; sometimes you get more of the scene from observing.  
plus i've been having a bad fit of writer's block since i wrote the art of catching smoke. needed something to _wRITE_.

lmao ignore me.

* * *

_**walk in the park**_

* * *

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.

.

Across the room, somewhat behind the bleachers, she hid behind the strobe lights and tried to ignore the glances across the room asking her to dance.

Her eyes darted around the gym before cautiously stepping out one of her bright red converse- and nearly got run over by a squad of heavily intoxicated classmen from the dance punch went racing by.

She looked around and saw a strange group of teachers watching her from across the room. One of them pointed at her, then glanced back at their friend. The woman staring at her nodded her head and slowly the two of them stepped out of the room. Odd.

After a moment she decided the gym was getting too stuffy and went to step out. As she did so, somebody grabbed her from behind and wrapped a hand over her mouth before she could scream. Several voices quickly rose while she struggled against their hands and kicked- but she was overwhelmed. _Damn_.

"Will, why aren't you in the car?" a man's voice demanded.

"Katie said something was wrong, she sent me in here."

"Fine, get the van around back. Pipes, stay here."

"I swear to gods Valdez, I -"

"_Dammit_, do it! Keep her quiet or the teachers are gonna come running."

She had no idea what was going on. Another voice spoke;

"Are you sure that's her?"

"Yep. Has to be."

"I hope she's a demigod, because if not this would be very awkward."

"Alright, Katie's here with the van. Come on!"

They carried her out the doors and the bitter night air stung on her skin; she should have worn a thicker sweatshirt. Cold nights like these made her wish she had a nice warm cup of coffee- preferably from Starbucks or something of the sort. Now she was being kidnapped.

"Holy _shit_-!"

"Piper look out!"

Something slammed into her from the side and then everything went black.

.

.

.

_"Is she awake?_" She heard the voices before she saw the owners.

_"No idea. Damn, godsdamn, damn damn, shit_."

"_What_?"

"_We're stranded. Dammit. Will won't answer his godsdamn phone._"

She sat up quickly and found herself staring at two of the strangest people she'd ever met. One of them was wearing a cap over her head with a single braid down the left side of her shoulder and choppy bangs under the hood. She had a dark jacket that looked several sizes too big and dark jeans with holes in the sides along with a belt with a knife-looking object strapped to the side.

Next to her, the man was scowling. He had smaller features, more pointed, curly hair and a ripped orange shirt with suspenders and a utility belt like work men wore when repairing buildings. He glared at the woman next to him in a way that made her feel on edge.

"Great, she's up," the man plopped down and his hands caught fire- literally. He held them up to his lips and breathed on them, creating an even larger flame that created a small withstanding fire in front of him. "Come on kiddo, get some warmth from the fire."

"H-how-?" she was in too much surprise to notice.

He rolled his eyes. "You must be confused. Here, let's start small. This is Piper," he indicated with his chin to the woman glaring at him, then pointed at himself. "'M Leo. How 'bout you, _chica_?"

"Diamond," she said. "Who are you people?"

"Diamond, huh," Leo stoked the fire with his bare hands and blew out the ashes, creating a flurry storm of ashy looking snow. "What kind of name is that?"

Piper slapped his arm. "Not the problem right now, Valdez."

"_Ay_, stop hitting me." Leo pulled out a phone-looking device from his toolbelt and Diamond edged closer to the flames. The warmth was settling, almost like she'd swallowed an entire cup of warm hot chocolate. Soothing. Calming.

"Well, damn." Leo said and smashed the device against the ground. "Great. Will's off my map. Katie too. More people to save."

"We wouldn't have to save them if you weren't such a moron," Piper muttered.

"Excuse me?" Leo raised an eyebrow. "So this is my fault, now? I didn't see you do much, miss pretty _perfect_."

"Oh that's it-"

"Uhm," Diamond coughed. "Where are we?"

Piper dropped her glare from Leo to inspect her and look at her closely for the first time. Her eyes shifted with the light- blue, green, orange, purple- it was mesmerizing.

"We're just having...issues," she said like the word had a bitter taste in her mouth. "Considering we swore _forever_ together."

"That was your idea," Leo shot back. "Why the hell would I want to get married? Obviously _not_."

"Shut up shut _up_!" Piper put her hands over her head like she was trying to block him out. "Alright, we need supplies. The van got taken out, which leaves walking or bus fare- except the city seems empty."

"It's _Manhattan_," he complained. "How in the world does one of the most populated cities in the world suddenly go empty?"

She shrugged. "The gods have been doing all sorts of funky things lately, I wouldn't be surprised."

"This fucking _sucks_," Leo said, leaning back on a wall and hitting his head against the bricks.

"Stop complaining you baby," she snapped. "If it weren't for you we wouldn't be in this shitty mess anyways."

"Okay," Diamond said. "Are you two together?"

Both of them shot her a glare and very loudly replied; "Shut up!"

.

.

.

"I hate walking," Piper complained, slipping out of her shoes as they crossed an eerily quiet long island bridge. Cars had emptied the streets, along with pedestrians- everything was gone.

"Maybe you'd rather swim," Leo grumbled. "I'd be happy to push you in."

Piper glared at his retreating back and her steps slowed to Diamond's pace.

"Demigods," Diamond repeated, from the earlier conversation. "Like...greek gods? Alright. I got this. Nope, kidding, you're all _crazy_."

Piper snorted. "I wish." She glared again at Leo's figure. "Then I wouldn't have to be stuck with him."

"What's going on with you guys?"

She sighed. "We've been fighting for the last month, I don't even know why. Ever since the gods went silent-" she stopped abruptly in her tracks and Diamond nearly walked right into her.

Piper remained frozen, her eyes fixated on the spot. Her hands curled around the jacket over her arms- the one Diamond now assumed was Leo's- and Diamond yelled "Leo! Something's wrong with Piper!"

Leo stopped up ahead and started running back, while Piper put a hand over her mouth and raced to the side of the bridge.

Diamond stood back while Piper vomited into the bay beneath the bridge and Leo rubbed circles in her back. After about five minutes, Piper sank to her knees and wiped her mouth, taking Leo's hand to help her stand up again.

"I told you that food was bad," she grimaced. "Now I've contaminated the bay."

"Shut up," Leo grumbled. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Peachy," she said. "I'll be fine, I swear. Let's get moving, this place is freaking me out."

Leo took the lead again and Diamond followed, with Piper behind, still clutching her stomach and looking queasy.

.

.

.

They stopped at an abandoned hotel and pigged out at the abandoned bar of food. She felt stuffed- like she could never manage to eat ever again.

Piper looked better, although she still looked pale. Leo took a couch and crashed on it, soon only Piper and her were awake.

She saw Piper tuck her hair behind her hair and caught sight of gold. "You're married?" she pointed to the ring.

Piper froze and slowly dropped her hand, twisting the ring around her finger. "You could say that," she said, sneaking a glance at the couch where Leo was resting. "It's complicated."

"Why do you guys fight so much?" she asked.

In response, Piper sighed. "We've always fought, even before- well, anyways. It used to be just teasing and silly things, but recently..." her thought trailed off. "I don't know. Everything just seems to be collapsing. I used to-"

Faster than Diamond could react, Piper put her hand back up to her mouth and shot towards the bathroom. Outside the door, she heard Piper's dry heaves and coughs while her stomach upturned.

She came back out looking flushed. "I swear, I wasn't sick before this."

"Yeah, I know," Leo's voice grumbled from the couch. "Only because before you were yelling at me twenty four seven, no time to be sick."

"Seriously," Diamond said. "You guys need to work things out or we're all going to die."

"Nah," Leo rolled over. "I'll just melt into a puddle of Leo goo and not care."

"You're an optimistic husband, very supportive," Piper snapped.

"Can we not fight right now?" Leo pleaded. "Preferably in private, also not scaring off young demigods."

Piper huffed and crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him. "I'm going to bed," she announced, stalking out of the room to find a bed in the abandoned hotel.

Diamond raised both eyebrows. "Is she usually like this?"

"Usually we tease each other, we haven't fought like this in years." Leo slammed his head into a pillow from frustration and his voice became muffled. "She's really getting on my nerves."

"It could be worse," she offered, although she had no consolation for him or advice except for marriage counseling.

"No, it couldn't," Leo sat up and frowned. "I'm going to go talk to her. You stay here and yell if anything tries to pop through the door."

"Right. Attack first, ask questions later."

"'Atta girl," he patted her shoulder and went after Piper.

.

.

.

She woke up the sound of crackling and popping- and opened her eyes.

Piper and Leo were already up, Leo was scrambling to grab his bag and tool belt while Piper readjusted her shirt and attempted to fix her hair. Diamond caught her gaze and the older girl blushed heavily and motioned for her to follow Leo.

"What's going on?" she whispered to Leo once they were outside. Piper joined them shortly after, panting like the rest of them, and subconsciously fixed one of Leo's suspenders. He pushed her hand away and glared at her while his ears tinged pink.

Diamond wasn't sure she wanted to know how they worked it out, so she asked again "What's going on?"

"The city came back," Leo indicated to the towers and the sound of cars filling the streets again. "We're going to sneak into a warehouse and get ourselves a car, while Pipes gets some necessities from a _CVS_ or something."

"I am?" Piper demanded.

"Yes, you are," Leo said. "Come on Diamond, we gotta find ourselves a car to steal- I mean _borrow_."

.

.

.

Apparently 'borrowing' a car wasn't so much of a problem. Diamond tried not to let her conscience get to her as Leo hotwired the insides of a Honda and chowed down on whatever leftover food he had in his bag.

"You fix cars for a living?" Diamond asked him.

Leo rolled out of the car and shook his head. "Son of Hephaestus, remember? I just fix things."

"And steal cars," she pointed out.

He shrugged. "No big diff. I just play as it goes."

The warehouse door tugged open and a thin figure slid under the rail. She hopped over the side and held up a bag of supplies. "Alright, got a few things. Water most important."

Leo sifted through the bags while Diamond went for the water. Piper was trying to find a toothbrush when Leo made an unattractive noise behind her.

The two of them spun and saw him holding up a box, staring at Piper with a look of confusion and fear.

"Oh," Piper's voice got small. "I wanted to see...if..."

"You already know," he said, dropping the box and staring at her with an unreadable expression. Diamond was so confused she didn't even know where to begin.

Leo flew past her and hugged Piper, spinning her around and kissing her with so much love and passion Diamond felt the urge to look away.  
Piper was smiling brighter than Diamond had ever seen, and Leo had tears forming on the corners of his eyes.

"What is going on?" Diamond sighed, leaning against the side of the hijacked car.

"I was going to ask you how you felt about kids," Piper said through a laugh. "Now you'll have to actually get us a house, won't you?"

"Damn right," Leo was still smiling giddily. "Come on Diamond, hop in the car. We gotta get you to camp."

"That's it?" she demanded. "The city goes into shutdown and you just waited it out and then decide to drive safely when it's over?"

Leo shrugged. "It's been happening for months. We've slowly been tracking down demigods and getting them across borders to keep them safe."

"After this we'll have to find Katie and Will," Piper added. "You'll be safe at camp though."

.

.

.

They only ran across one rough patch of monsters. Leo and Piper hopped out of the car with Diamond in the back while the two argued about whether or not Piper should be fighting, and from the windows of the van she saw the strange ferocity of two powerful demigods. Leo's entire body was enveloped in flames as he burned off the head of a monster she didn't know the name of or what they could do.

On the camp borders she spotted a blonde girl with steely grey eyes watching them from the van as they pulled up with a black haired guy sitting next to her.

"Got one," Piper hopped out of the car. "She'll be up in a minute."

The two other demigods raised their eyebrows. "You and Leo are getting _along_?"

In response, Piper kissed Leo's cheek while he grinned. "Apparently so."

"Any particular reason to that?" Annabeth eyed them suspiciously while Percy helped Diamond out of the car and started talking about the wonders of Camp Halfblood and asked her if she needed to make a call to her parents.

"We'll just be starting a family," Piper smiled and took Leo's hands. "Where's yours?"

She rolled her eyes as a toddler jumped between her legs and hug-attacked Leo. "Uncle Weo!"

"Hey there," Leo ruffled his hair. "Are you defending camp?"

"I keep dem safe from monstars," Luke sucked his thumb protectively and the others laughed.

"You brave hero," Piper picked him up and watched Diamond get shown around the camp. "How are you feeling about cousins?"

.

.

.


	2. jason grace loses his pants

**title: **walk in the park (ii. jason grace loses his pants)

**summary**: Contrary to popular belief, their relationship is not. In which Jason Grace debates if he is losing his sanity due to the constant fighting of his friends.

**rating**: T (fosho i swear too much in this ha)

**disclaimer**: rick riordan, obvs

**a/n**- since i'm suffering writer's block i decided to continue from the chronicles of diamond. now we have the unfortunate tale of Jason Grace, the victim of listening to these two idiots bickering.

in chronological sense, this would be first; then the one before this would be second, and the third and final one im going to be posting will actually be the last.i don't keep a pattern i'm sorry lmao ignore me

* * *

_**walk in the park**_

* * *

_**ii.**_

"Well maybe if _you_ were more helpful around the house-"

"Oh, not like I'm _busy_ or anything, _nah_, not at _all_-"

Jason groaned and hit his head against the surface of the Valdez' countertop. Ever since he'd taken the trip back to Camp Halfblood to help out with the current '_urgent situation_' going on with the Olympians, he'd been stuck living at Leo and Piper's house. Not that there was anything he had against his friends; just that they wouldn't fucking _shut up and stop fighting._

"_Excuse_ me, you're just a hormonal-"

"_Maybe _ if your dick wasn't so big it wouldn't be adding to the stupidity of this argument-"

Jason sat up and decided to intervene at that moment because he knew if they kept going where the argument was heading, the inside of Leo's pants were going to be open and either having uncomfortable make up sex or his wife castrating him on the kitchen table. Neither of those options sounded particularly enticing to Jason, who stood up and yelled as loud as he could;

"Will both of you _shut up!_"

Leo had been waving his arms around angrily and Piper's hand was continuously twitching towards nearby objects to pick up and toss at Leo. Both of them froze and shot him a glare, making Jason groan. "I've only been here for two days, guys. _Two days_. And in those two days both of you have picked a fight about every- _fucking_ - thing."

Piper went to open her mouth but Jason eyed her in a way that said;_ shut up and let me speak or I'm going to put both of you in separate rooms for the rest of your lives like little pets that don't get along._

"Now either make up or leave each other alone before I call Annabeth and she duct tapes you both to the ceiling to set you two straight. Got it?"

"Yes," they both grumbled, shooting one another a dark glare and then stalking out in opposite directions.  
Piper stormed upstairs, her feet pounding on the stairs with powerful strides on each step with frustrated purpose. Leo walked around in a circle before collapsing into a chair and banging his head against the counter.

"Man, stop that," Jason ordered, picking up his pizza off the counter. "You're disturbing my food."

"Fuck off," Leo grumbled, and then sat up. "Sorry, I didn't mean that. I just- Piper- she- _Ugghh_!" He grabbed the sides of his head like he was going to pull his hair out. "_Ngah_! She's annoying the hell out of me!"

"You guys have always fought," Jason said pointedly, biting into a slice of pizza and standing upright while hovering over the island in the kitchen incase he dropped his food- which he'd had a bad case of this week with his arm spazzing out. That wasn't good during fights.

"Not like this," Leo said. "Now we are actually fighting- like _real_ fighting. We're just so mad at each other and ready to blow at one another and- _gaah_! I don't even fucking _remember_ what we were fighting about!"

"Then just live and let live," Jason hummed, finishing off his pizza and reaching across the island for another slice. "Forgive and forget."

"Like that ever worked for you and Reyna," Leo snorted.

Jason diverted his attention from the pizza to glare at him. "We're together, aren't we? Obviously she forgave and forgot at some point."

"You guys still fight like hell, man."

"Shut up, we're just teasing. Unlike you and Pipes."

Leo ran his hands through his hair. "I don't know, man. Recently she's been scaring me, 'ya know? She wants to '_settle down in a real house_' and '_start a family_,'" he put finger quotes in the air. "I just don't think I'm ready for that, you get me?"

"Somewhat," Jason said. "But you guys have been married for like, four years. Maybe it's time you actually stepped back from the demigod quests and..._actually_ get a _house_."

"Don't you _dare_ side with her!" Leo fumed. "She might be ready for it, but I'm sure as hell _not_. No fucking idea what she's thinking, that woman." He went quiet for a couple more minutes and glared at the wall.

Jason clucked his tongue. "I think I'll stay at Percy and Annabeth's house tomorrow. You guys are driving me insane."

Leo tossed a napkin at him, which, being air repellent, floated in the air a few inches away from him and slid onto the floor. "Knock yourself out, specially with that toddler terror screaming every two hours."

"Hmmm..." maybe the Jackson's house wasn't looking too hot after all. "Good point."

Leo glared daggers at the walls a few more minutes like he wished to rip through the walls with a hammer to get his anger out.

"So..." Jason started with a conversational tone. "How big is your dick, then? Pipes makes it sound like it's huge-"

This time Leo threw a magazine roll at him, making him duck. The roll knocked over the pizza on the counter and it fell onto the floor in a splatter of red stain all over the grainy tile of the Valdez apartment.

"Dammit, man," Jason cried. "you just ruined my dinner!"

.

.

.

He was awake before he realized it; sirens were going off down the block and the noise made his head sprawl and crawl into panic.  
"Fuck," he said, rolling out of bed and running out of the guest bedroom, down the hallway, and burst into the master bedroom.

Leo was passed out in one of the pillows with Piper on top of him, and by the way the sheets and pillows were arranged, Jason only assumed they had '_made up_.'

"Get up!" he bellowed and tossed a pillow at their heads. "Olympus is under attack!"

Leo snorted and shook his head awake and nearly slid off the bed. "Whaa- _wuzzagoinon?" _

"Up!" Jason yelled. "Get up we gotta _go_!"

Piper rolled over and slid under the covers. "Five more minutes."

"No, _now_!"

Her partner turned over and blinked sleepily at Jason. "What the fuck happened to your pants?"

"I'm sorry, you want me to wear a full suit to bed? Just get up!"

"Fine, fine," Leo grumbled and started scrambling around for his toolbelt and a pair of pants.

"I'll be waiting downstairs," Jason said. "Rendezvous at the Jackson's, right?"

"_Yeeeeeep_," Piper droned and fell back into her pillow to catch a few more moments of sleep.

After about ten minutes the two of them finally made it down the stairs, blinking their eyes and Leo was fumbling with the coffee machine.

"Can't drive," he nearly fell over on the counter. "Need coffee."

"We gotta go!" Jason said impatiently.

_"Ay dios mio,_ I'm hurrying! Get the car packed, I'll meet you two out there."

Jason went with Piper to get the car started and any weapons packed; Leo had been building something out of the Archimedes sphere to repel monsters, along with magic from the Hecate cabin so demigods could be safe.

Leo joined them a few minutes later with a cup of coffee in his hands. "Car packed?" They nodded. "Good. Let's roll."

.

.

.

"I don't understand," Annabeth huffed, flipping over Luke on the changing station. "Why can't I go to Olympus? I'm the one who built it, you know."

"You needed to take care of Luke," Jason said. "I'm sure the others will be back soon enough."

Annabeth huffed and handed Jason a dirty diaper. "Toss this downstairs."

He wrinkled his nose. "Ew, nasty!"

"Jason Grace-"

"Alright, _alright_, it's still disgusting."

She smirked and helped Luke sit upright. "You want to see uncle Jason trip and fall down the stairs and knock himself unconscious?"

"Haha, very funny," Jason laughed dryly as he left the doorway. Annabeth cuddled her son and Luke gurgled happily and grinned at Jason with bright sea green eyes. His hair was the same color as Annabeth's- most of him looking like Annabeth, to be exact. Except his eyes. The only participant from the Percy-gene pool had come from his eyes.

Tossing out the baby radioactive decay unit, he turned around and sat down at the table. Annabeth carried Luke down a few minutes later and handed him to Jason so she could cook dinner.

Jason played with Luke's hands. "What are you doing?" he asked the toddler as Luke grabbed Jason's hair and yanked on it. "Ow, _gerrof_ my hair."

He heard Annabeth's laughter behind him. Luke clapped his hands and wiggled his tongue out of his mouth and laughed in little gurgles.  
Luke liked being bounced, so Jason bobbed him on his legs while Luke continued to wiggle his tongue at Jason teasingly.

Annabeth set up dinner and told him to put down Luke as to help set the table while she watched the clock; Leo, Piper, and Percy were supposed to be back from Olympus around 6. It was nearly half an hour after that.

Percy told Annabeth to stay home and take care of Luke and then keep Jason with her incase something happened. Leo and Piper tagged along to find out what was going on. From Annabeth's grumbly expression she hadn't appreciated being left home, but Jason knew it was probably for the best. Luke was a toddler terror.

A few minutes later they arrived back home. Percy looked weary and tired, Leo looked annoyed, and Piper looked disgruntled.

"Oh you're back," Annabeth hugged her husband and ushered the group into the kitchen. Luke banged his fists against his toddler stool as a sign he was hungry and wanted food.

Leo picked up the tray for dinner and held it over Annabeth's head. "Nu-uh, preggo lady."

"You call me that again and I'll shove my sneaker into your mouth."

"_Ay_, fiesty," Leo laughed and carried it over to the table. Annabeth crossed her arms protectively over her small baby bump and Percy kissed her hair. "Don't mind him, Valdez is just being himself."

Dinner was mostly quiet except for Luke's occasional gurgle and slurp as he ate his baby pudding. However Jason kept looking at Piper, who was shoveling food down like she had never eaten before.

Leo raised an eyebrow at her behavior and Jason joked "Aw come on Valdez, are you not feeding her at home?"

Piper and Leo shot him a glare at the same time and Percy snickered. "At least they're getting along today."

"Don't jinx it," Annabeth advised, steering more food into Luke's bubbling mouth as he spluttered food and made farting noises from the other end of the table.

"How was things on Olympus?" Jason asked.

Leo shrugged. "Same as last time. _Poof_. The elevator made it to the top but there's nothing there."

Percy sighed. "I wish we could understand what's going on. And it gets weirder-"

"New York becomes frozen," Piper murmured. "The city vanishes- all the people, and the ones we could see were probably demigods just confused. I don't know if they notice everyone is gone or not...probably the mist."

"So what do we do?" Jason frowned. "Track down each demigod one by one and see if getting them to camp will stop whatever's gone wrong with the gods?"

Percy shrugged. "It's our best bet."

He felt like his stomach was turning to lead. By the looks from the faces of the others, they probably felt the same way. The gods were vanishing. Olympus was crumbling. They were on their own.

Leo knocked Piper's arm for a moment and caught her hand before it could knock over her water, and she said "Could you _stop_ that?"

"Stop what, making sure you're _safe_?"

"Here we go again," Percy muttered.

"I can take care of myself, you know," Piper growled. "If only you _understood_ that."

"Well _excuse me_, I didn't know keeping an eye on your _wellbeing_ we such a _horrible_ thing to do-"

Great, Jason thought. Everything's just about back to normal.


	3. kicking the daisies

**title: **walk in the park

**summary**: Contrary to popular belief, their relationship is not. In which a young daughter of Demeter is found and stuck in a bad place while the superheroes battle the monsters and she's stuck with the pregnant wife having a baby.

**rating**: T (fosho i swear too much in this ha)

**disclaimer**: rick riordan, obvs

**a/n**- part three is done! huzzah, this one is a lot longer than the other two, sorry. as for now, this story is finished, unless i start up my leo;;piper oneshot collection i might add these into it just for kicks and giggles. based on the asks from ask-liper on tumblr, starring diamond the daughter of aphrodite and her friend daisy daughter of demeter who have had the unfortunate/fortunate experience of running into leo and piper at two different times. here is daisy! i hope you guys enjoyed this change in perspective; that was my main goal of this story, trying to show the relationship of others through the eyes of somebody else. i hope i did it justice; thanks!

* * *

_**walk in the park**_

* * *

_**iii.**_

She heard them before she saw them; whispers. Feet clambered up stairs and she started breathing in through her mouth with her hand clamped over it to keep from screaming in terror or making even a sound.

For a moment everything went quiet again; and then she heard it again. An inhuman growl ripped through the streets and made the light fixtures above her quiver in anticipation.

She was about to scream when another hand clamped over her mouth and she blacked out.

.

.

.

"Is she awake?" she heard a man's voice say.

"She's conscious," a hand moved across her forehead. "Right now she's listening, debating if we're enemies or not."

Her eyes popped open and she whirled around in a defensive position. "Who are you?"

The two men in front of her were both blonde, both had bright blue eyes, and both looked confused. "Yep, she's a demigod all right."

"Demi-_what_?"

"Tell Katie to get the van out back, we'll try and find somewhere to crash and wait for the loop to be over."

"What _loop_?" she demanded. "What's going on?"

"The gods are retreating," the blonde haired boy on her left said calmy, his blue eyes the color of a vibrant blue sky.

"Who are you?" she asked.

"I'm Jason," he said. "This is Will, that's Leo-" He pointed to a man she hadn't noticed before, sitting crouched near a window that was boarded up and scowling- "and Katie and Piper are outside in the van. We're gonna dash there really quickly so monsters ignore us."

"_Monsters_?" her voice came out shrill. "_That's_ what I've been seeing?"

"Yeah, they're not nice," Leo scowled and dropped his gaze from the window. "I really don't like leaving them out there, Will. It seems...vulnerable."

"Unless you've got a better plan, _senior toolbelt_." Will snapped at him.

Jason put his hands out. "Cool it, man. Leo's just a little on edge this week."

"No shit," Will said. Then he glanced at her "Oh sorry, I mean _'no, really.'_"

"It's fine, I'm not _six_, you know."

"What's your name, unless you'd rather just be addressed informally?" Leo asked, sitting down in the circle they'd made.

"Daisy,"she said.

"Oh, Katie will love having a sister. I hope Diamond is waiting at the entr-"

"Diamond?" Daisy asked. "She's my friend. You know her?"

"Yeah. Daughter of Aphrodite," Jason said. "Piper's younger sister."

"I didn't know Diamond had a sister."

"Half sister," Jason corrected himself. "Will's just assuming you're a daughter of Demeter based on your name."

"Demeter is...?"

"Goddess of agriculture."

"She could be Roman," Leo suggested.

"Nah, this is Greek territory. We don't find Romans this far north, do we?"

"Excellent point," Will said, nodding at Jason. "Come on, there's a blind spot. If we run now, there's a chance we can get out of here."

.

.

.

The van was dingy and stained with soot and ashes, from what Daisy could tell. Jason pushed her into the back with Will and shut the door as quietly as he could, then ran to the front and Leo started the engine silently.

She looked around in the cramped space. Will took a seat next to a sweet-looking girl who was frowning at the window. She had a streak of what looked like dirt across her cheek, which Will wiped off, and both of them blushed.

Across from them sat another girl who was looking pale; not to mention she looked like she'd swallowed the moon. Her stomach bulged out of her shirt and she hugged the small planet as Leo slowly drove out of the spot.

The woman caught her staring and managed a smile. "Hello, Will, who's this?"

"Daisy," Will was shuffling through a dark black bag in the compartment and managed to yank it out. "We're thinking Demeter, your opinion, Katie?"

"Possibly." Katie said. "Mom always did like naming us after flowers. My middle name is Rose, you know. What's your thought, Piper?"

The woman named Piper groaned as the van turned. "I don't care, I just want to go home. This baby has been kicking me since three am."

Will frowned. "Could I check?"

"Sure." She removed her hand and Will placed his over the top of her stomach. Daisy was confused; did he have the power to baby bend and communicate with it somehow?

"He's just a little upset," Will said. "You're stressing him out with your own stress."

"I got that." She shifted uncomfortably. "_Ay_, stop that," she told her belly. "He moved last night in a really bad way, I couldn't sleep for the rest of it."

Will frowned. "How in Tartarus-?"

"You're quiet," Katie interrupted them to talk to Daisy. "Anything wrong, kiddo?"

"I still have no idea what's going on." Daisy said. "Who are you people?"

"Demigods. Adult ones," Will said. "We're on the monthly recruit trip to help kids over the borders ever since Olympus has been acting up."

"Olympus," she racked her memories back to middle school. "As in, Greek gods?" Oh. Demeter suddenly rang a bell in her head.

"Precisely," Will said. "Hey Jason, how's the roads?"

"Empty, as usual," Jason said. "But that nymph told us today is a dangerous day; right on the solstice. There's bound to be monsters around."

"Weird that we haven't seen any," Piper scowled. "Usually they show up-"

The car slammed on the brakes abruptly and Daisy was thrown against the seat in front of her. Leo yelled "Get out of the car!"

Will grabbed Daisy and hoisted her over the seat and pushed her out the back after Katie, who was helping Piper step out. "Hit the deck!" Jason yelled.

Daisy ducked under a wall from what looked like an abandoned warehouse and tried not to breathe in sawdust.

A few seconds later the van exploded and the flames shot out right towards her, this was it, she was going to die right here and still be confused about-

Leo stood in front of the fire, his hands out in concentration, bending the fire away from the wall and back towards the alley.

Then came the grunts and screeches of things that weren't human, and Daisy knew something bad was about to happen.

"They've found us," Jason said grimly, a line of soot across his forehead.

"Who?" Daisy asked.

"The monsters," Jason said. "This is _very_ bad."

.

.

.

Daisy helped Will drag Katie inside. She'd been hit in the head by a flying piece of debris when the van exploded and her head hung limply off the side as they carried her.

Will placed a hand over her forehead and closed his eyes. "She's good," he said after a moment. "Just out cold. Here, put an ice pack on that," he took out a bag of ice from his black bag and tossed it at Daisy. "I need to fix her arm."

Piper was sitting a few feet away from the little set up with her eyes closed. "Is Diamond all right?" Daisy asked, as she adjusted the ice pack on her older sister's forehead.

Piper nodded, her eyes still shut. "Last I checked on her. She-" she sucked in a breath and squeezed her eyes tighter. "Oh," she said in a small voice. "Oh, ow, this hurts."

Will looked up from pouring some golden looking liquid on Katie's arm and wrapped white bangades around it. "What hurts?"

As he said it, Piper's color paled even more noticeably. "Ow, not now!" she ordered the baby. "Ow, Will, it _hurts_."

He crawled over to her and placed a hand on her stomach to check what was wrong. Will had explained he was a child of Apollo, the god of medicine, so he could heal people or check their illness by testing his hand. He also said he was near graduating medical school at the university.

"Oh," Will opened his eyes. "This isn't good. Oh gods."

"What?" Piper demanded, and then winced.

"Your stomach must have been impacted by the explosion somehow, the fetus is stressed and-"

"You're not making _any_ sense!"

"Your baby is coming. Like _right_ now."

Piper groaned either from pain or frustration, Daisy wasn't sure. Katie stirred where they'd left her to lie, but nobody paid attention to her.

"Daisy, get me my bag," Will ordered her, helping Piper into a relaxed position. "There's a white button in it, pull it out and drop it on the ground."

She did so, and a tent-like form popped out. It folded and modeled itself into a low chair with an incline for a head, barely an inch or two off the ground. He pressed something on the side to raise the incline on the top, then had Daisy help lift Piper onto the mat.

"Here, take some ambrosia," Will handed her some. "This will help. Probably."

"Can you even deliver a baby?" Piper demanded.

"In theory, probably."

"_Probably_?" Piper groaned again. "You're _not_ helping my stress."

"Sorry." he didn't sound very sincere in his apology, mostly because he was distracted. Daisy felt like she was useless with whatever was going on at the moment; Leo and Jason were outside defending anything from getting into the warehouse and fighting off the streets to keep them clear.

"Here, put this on her head," Will handed her a damp towel and she pressed it on Piper's forehead, like he asked. At least she had something to do now.

Will got out white towels from his black magic bag and helped Piper back into a comfortable position. Her forehead was already beaded with sweat.

"Just hold on and don't push, we might be able to make it back to camp before it's time," he said hopefully.

"I'm trying," Piper snapped and groaned. "You try stopping child birth, mister _medical_."

"Sheesh," Will said. Katie stirred next to him and sat up, putting her fingers against her bruise. "_Whazzagoin_' on?" she murmured.

"Kate!" Will hugged her and helped her sit up. "You feeling better?"

Piper groaned even louder next to them. "Can you guys _shut_ _up_ and flirt later?"

"Is she okay?" Katie asked worriedly.

"She's starting to go into labor, nothing to panic about," Will sounded pretty panicked.

"Oh no," Katie said. "What do we-?"  
To answer her question, Piper emitted a louder groan and muffled a scream. "Will, I think camp is going to have to wait."

"I can't deliver a baby, are you fucking _insane_!"

"Will," Katie said. "Please. She needs your help."

His gaze softened. "Alright, but you have to help me. Piper, now would be a good time to start pushing."

.

.

.

"I'm too tired," Piper panted, while Daisy rubbed the cloth over her forehead again. "I can't do this."

"She's tiring out," Will cursed. "Come on Pipes, you gotta do this!"

"Don't call me Pipes!" she snapped.

"Great, she has more energy when she's angry. Somebody make her mad."

"I can't do that!" Katie said, horrified.

"Fine, leave it up to the doctor." Will ran a hand through his blond hair and winced. "Piper, your cooking _sucks_. Now push."

"You moron, don't make up lies to make me mad!"

"I wasn't lying. Your cooking _really_ sucks."

"I wish we had Leo," Katie mumbled. "He'd be able to annoy her enough to make her mad."

"He'd be better support in general," Will agreed. "Speaking of which, how is their battle going?"

Daisy cocked her head to the side to listen. Outside she heard the shouts of Jason and Leo, thunder rumbling and the crack of lightning and the furious crackling of fire. She assumed the battle was not going well by the noises coming from the efforts to stop the monsters.

The others looked like they were guessing about the same thing. Piper kept shivering like she had the flu and gripped her hands on the cushion, drawing marks where her nails carved into the sides.

"What do we do?" Katie asked.

"Get Piper to cooperate," Will said. "I guess I have to deliver a baby." He put on a pair of white gloves and smiled at Daisy in a way that looked unenthusiastic. "_Yippee_."

.

.

.

Daisy came to the door when the battle cries ceased outside. Jason walked in with Leo leaning on his shoulders and a particularly bad gash on Leo's leg that was almost sickening to look at.

"I'll take it the battle didn't go well," she said, looking at Leo's leg.

Leo nodded his head lazily and dropped to the ground, except for his friend supporting him. With Jason's help they carried (dragged) him to the middle of the warehouse where Will, Katie, and Piper were sitting.

When they set him down, Leo regained consciousness and stared at Piper. "You okay, Pipes?" he asked groggily. "I'm dreaming, I think."

"You moron," she managed. "Take my hand, I'm in a lot of pain."

"I don't see your leg bleeding to death," Leo grumbled and gripped her hand. "_What'sa goin' onnn_, William?"

"Piper is having her baby," Will told him calmly. "Can you be a supportive husband and help me as to help her?"

"Mhmmm, okay," Leo droned sleepily. Jason was pouring nectar- what Katie told her was a healing drink- on his leg and trying to staunch the flow of blood that had already begun to pool on the concrete.

Piper gripped Leo's hand tighter until her knuckles were white. "_Ow_, ow, ow," she muttered.

"Shh, you're doing fine," Leo told her. "Just take out the circulation in my hand until you feel better. That's cool."

"This is _all_ your fault," Piper groaned as Will told her to try and push her way through.

"_My_ fault?" Leo looked stunned. "Uh, Pipes, _you're_ the one that wanted kids in the first place."

"You're the one with the dick, shut up!"

Jason snorted at their argument banter back and forth until Piper groaned loudly and lurched forward. "Ow, ow, _ow_."

"Piper, you _need_ to push!"

"I'm fucking pushing, shut up before I _strangle_ you!"

Jason took Piper's other hand and she gripped the two hands of her best friend and her husband. Katie took Daisy by the hand and they went outside to wait while Piper screamed and cursed inside.

Daisy played with the flowers growing freely outside the side of the warehouse while Katie paced around. A few minutes later they heard the loudest swearing come out of Piper's mouth, and then a child's wail. Katie grinned and they walked back inside.

Piper looked exhausted, snoring on Leo's lap while he held a baby in a white towel and stroked her hair. Jason looked mortified.

"If you guys think I'll be babysitting a _Valdez_ kid, I'm moving to Africa," Jason told Leo, and he laughed in response. "No, seriously, you better not be having any more kids after this or I'll take hide under a rock for the rest of my life."

"And I am _never_ delivering any more of your children," Will shuddered. "What are you going to name her?"

Piper stirred in Leo's lap to answer. "Anza, after Leo's mother."

"Oh," Leo's voice came out weak and he picked up the baby to face him. "_Hola, chica._" He kissed Piper's forehead and said "I love you."

"Mhhmm," she hummed, and went back to sleep.

.

.

.

One very agonizing trip later, Daisy straggled over the borders of Camp halfblood. A familiar face greeted her at the top.

"Daisy!" Diamond slid down the side of the hill to help her over the top. "You got here safe?"

"Monsters attacked, something almost ate Leo's leg, Katie got knocked out, and Piper had a baby, other than that it was uneventful," Daisy informed her.

Diamond's eyes sprawled. "Woah, no way! Mine was much more boring. Nine months ago, I think. Piper and Leo were just finding out they were having kids, fighting every three seconds and trying to rip out each other's hair."

"It's an odd type of love," Daisy agreed, watching Leo and Piper talk with who she assumed where Percy and Annabeth Jackson, Anza in Piper's arms while the other boy, Luke, hopped around their legs and talked about astrophysics and forensic science.

"I guess it works," Diamond said, nodding at the couple. "For them, at least." She turned back to Daisy and grinned. "Ready to see camp?"

"Heck yeah, I didn't almost die in a van for nothing." She followed her friend inside the camp and vanished under the bowing pine tree into a new world.

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.

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_fin_


End file.
